It’s enjoyable to visit a casino. But when you don’t have a lot of money to play with, it’s not quite as enjoyable. Nobody enjoys visiting a casino and losing all their money within 15 minutes. Games that allow you to play for a while on your limited resources are necessary when your bankroll is low. The key to playing with your money for longer is something that most people are unaware of or don’t understand. Volatility is the crucial word. To have a chance of playing for a longer period of time, you need games with low volatility. The ability to change quickly and unexpectedly, especially for the worse, is a good definition of volatility. A high volatility game will therefore typically have longer dry periods and a higher top end win. A game with lower volatility won’t have huge jackpots, but it will have more frequent low end payments. Things don’t always go as planned when gambling, as with any activity. You can lose money quickly playing games you shouldn’t and win big playing games that don’t often pay out at a high level. You can typically play longer on your money with the games listed below than those that aren’t.
Pai Gow Poker
The least volatile game in any casino, wherever you go, is probably Pai Gow Poker. A poker-based game called Pai Gow Poker is played against the dealer. Except if you place a bet on one of the optional side bets, the main game has an even money payout. You can easily stretch your money twice as far or three times as far as if you just play the main game of Pai Gow Poker with no side bets. If you want to play a game that is social, slower-paced, low-volatility, and where nothing you do can have an impact on any of the other players at the table, this is a fantastic game to learn. To give yourself the best chance of a prolonged session, only place the main wager and leave the side wagers out.
Baccarat
If low volatility is your goal, baccarat ought to be your backup option. Baccarat is a very straightforward card game in which the player and dealer compete to see who can get closest to nine using two or more cards. Only three possible outcomes exist. There is a tie, the dealer wins, or the player wins. The rules of when the player and house stay on their totals or draw another card are fixed, so there is no strategy to Baccarat. If money is tight, you’ll probably have to play this game at a casino after hours. The minimum bet is typically much higher than all other table games due to the low house edge and volatility. A common minimum at many casinos, particularly those on the Las Vegas Strip, would be $100. This is a fantastic option for longer play if you can find a game with lower restrictions.
Blackjack
In contrast to the previous two games, blackjack is a game that can be found in any casino that offers table games. The most played table game worldwide is blackjack. Blackjack is the third least volatile game you’ll find in a casino, and with a simple trick, it can be made even less volatile. There is one prerequisite to this game being a good one to extend your play time before we get to the trick. You must understand the fundamentals of blackjack strategy, such as when to hit, stand, double down, etc. Poor game play will end up costing you a lot of money. It’s not particularly difficult to learn basic strategy, but you’ll need to learn it if you want to keep food on the table. Here comes the trick. With a few restrictions, you can play two hands of blackjack at the majority of casinos. First, the hands must be placed close together. There cannot be any additional players between the two hands. Second, the minimum bet at the table must be at least doubled for each hand. If the minimum bet at the table is $5, playing two hands would require playing $10 on each of the two spots. Playing two hands as opposed to one hand will generally result in less volatility and a longer play session, but you won’t have any better or worse long-term odds of winning. If you know the basic strategy, blackjack is a low volatility game even at one hand.
Slot Machines
The hardest games in the casino to gauge volatility are the slots. The public is not informed of the volatility or win frequency of slot machine games. They do give the casino this information via what they refer to as a PAR sheet, but PAR sheets hardly ever reach the general public. To give you an idea of the type of information that is provided to a casino, here is a copy of a section of a PAR Sheet from a three-reel Jackpot Party slot machine. How then can you determine which games might have lower volatility so that your money lasts longer without having access to this kind of information? A machine’s highest payout is usually a reliable indicator. Any machine with a progressive must come up with that money somehow. That typically comes from lower end payouts. Even if a machine doesn’t have a progressive jackpot, you should probably avoid it if it offers a sizable regular jackpot. The machines with maximum jackpot payouts of 4,000 to 10,000 credits are your best bet; the lower the number, the better for you. These smaller jackpots will enable the machine to offer more small and medium-sized payouts, allowing you to typically play with your money for longer.
Table Games
Compared to slots, there is a lot more information available for table games. Game designers have much less trouble with players who are familiar with the game’s statistics and even how to play it properly. Even small optimal play charts can be used at the table while you play in many casinos. As a challenge or simply to assist other players, mathematicians can also easily decipher and break down the odds of table games. Many do this in their free time. There are numerous table games with low hold percentages and volatility available. Many great games can only be found in a small number of casinos, or even just a few, due to the monthly creation of new table games. The games on the list below have low volatility and can be found in many, if not most, casinos. If you want to increase your playing time, you should play these games.
